## Features
- Supports sending and receiving messages between [Reticulum WebChat](https://github.com/liamcottle/reticulum-webchat), [Sideband](https://github.com/markqvist/Sideband/) and [Nomadnet](https://github.com/markqvist/nomadnet).
- Supports receiving and saving images and attachments sent from Sideband.
- Supports sending images and file attachments.
- Supports saving inbound and outbound messages to a local database.
- Supports sending an announce to the network.
- Supports setting a custom display name to send in your announce.
- Supports viewing and searching peers discovered from announces.
## Beta Features
- Support for Audio Calls to other [Reticulum WebChat](https://github.com/liamcottle/reticulum-webchat) users.
- Audio is encoded with [codec2](https://github.com/drowe67/codec2) to support low bandwidth links.
- Using a microphone requires using the web ui over localhost or https, due to [AudioWorklet](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/AudioWorklet) secure context.
- I have tested two-way audio calls over LoRa with a single hop. It works well when a reasonable bitrate is configured on the RNode.
- Support for browsing pages, and downloading files hosted on Nomad Network Nodes.
> NOTE: micron format parsing is still in development, some pages may not render or work correctly at all.
## Download
You can download the latest version for Windows and Mac from the [releases](https://github.com/liamcottle/reticulum-webchat/releases) page.
Alternatively, you can download the source and run it manually from a command line.
See the ["How to use it?"](#how-to-use-it) section below on how to do this.
## How does it work?
- A python script ([web.py](./web.py)) runs a Reticulum instance and a WebSocket server.
- The web page sends and receives LXMF packets encoded in json via the WebSocket.
- Web Browser -> WebSocket -> Python Reticulum -> (configured interfaces) -> (destination)
- LXMF messages sent and received are saved to a local SQLite database.
## How to use it?
You will need to clone the repo, and run `web.py`.
```
git clone https://github.com/liamcottle/reticulum-webchat
cd reticulum-webchat
pip install -r requirements.txt
python web.py
```
> NOTE: You should now be able to access the web interface at http://localhost:8000
For a full list of command line options, you can run;
```
python web.py --help
```
```
usage: web.py [-h] [--host [HOST]] [--port [PORT]] [--headless] [--identity-file IDENTITY_FILE] [--identity-base64 IDENTITY_BASE64] [--generate-identity-file GENERATE_IDENTITY_FILE] [--generate-identity-base64]
[--reticulum-config-dir RETICULUM_CONFIG_DIR] [--storage-dir STORAGE_DIR]
ReticulumWebChat
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--host [HOST] The address the web server should listen on.
--port [PORT] The port the web server should listen on.
--headless Web browser will not automatically launch when this flag is passed.
--identity-file IDENTITY_FILE
Path to a Reticulum Identity file to use as your LXMF address.
--identity-base64 IDENTITY_BASE64
A base64 encoded Reticulum Identity to use as your LXMF address.
--generate-identity-file GENERATE_IDENTITY_FILE
Generates and saves a new Reticulum Identity to the provided file path and then exits.
--generate-identity-base64
Outputs a randomly generated Reticulum Identity as base64 and then exits.
--reticulum-config-dir RETICULUM_CONFIG_DIR
Path to a Reticulum config directory for the RNS stack to use (e.g: ~/.reticulum)
--storage-dir STORAGE_DIR
Path to a directory for storing databases and config files (default: ./storage)
```
## Using an existing Reticulum Identity
The first time you run this application, a new Reticulum identity is generated and saved to `storage/identity`.
If you want to use an existing identity;
- You can overwrite `storage/identity` with another identity file.
- Or, you can pass in a custom identity file path as a command line argument.
To use a custom identity file, provide the `--identity-file` argument followed by the path to your custom identity file.
```
python web.py --identity-file ./custom_identity_file
```
If you would like to generate a new identity, you can use the [rnid](https://reticulum.network/manual/using.html#the-rnid-utility) utility provided by Reticulum.
```
rnid --generate ./new_identity_file
```
If you don't have access to the `rnid` command, you can use the following:
```
python web.py --generate-identity-file ./new_identity_file
```
Alternatively, you can provide a base64 encoded private key, like so;
```
python web.py --identity-base64 "GCN6mMhVemdNIK/fw97C1zvU17qjQPFTXRBotVckeGmoOwQIF8VOjXwNNem3CUOJZCQQpJuc/4U94VSsC39Phw=="
```
> NOTE: this is a randomly generated identity for example purposes. Do not use it, it has been leaked!
## Build Electron Application
Reticulum WebChat can be run from source via a command line, as explained above, or as a standalone application.
To run as a standalone application, we need to compile the python script and dependencies to an executable with [cxfreeze](https://github.com/marcelotduarte/cx_Freeze) and then build an [Electron](https://www.electronjs.org/) app which includes a bundled browser that can interact with the compiled python executable.
This allows for the entire application to be run by double clicking a single file without the need for a user to manually install python, nor run any commands in a command line application.
To build a `.exe` when running on Windows or a `.dmg` when running on a Mac, run the following;
```
pip install -r requirements.txt
npm install
npm run dist
```
> Note: cxfreeze only supports building an executable for the current platform. You will need a Mac to build for Mac, and a Windows PC to build for Windows.
Once completed, you should have a `.exe` or a `.dmg` in the `dist` folder.
## TODO
- [ ] auto build and release windows and macos binaries via github actions
- [ ] conversations/contacts list ui with unread indicators
- [ ] button to add peer to contacts, and show a tab for contacts, separate from peers list
- [ ] allow setting a custom name to show for a contact
- [ ] button to forget peers and contacts
- [ ] optimise ui to work nicely on a mobile device, such as Android/iOS
- [ ] support for managing Reticulum config/interfaces via the web ui
- [ ] support for micron input fields, to allow interacting with pages like Retipedia
## License
MIT